If a vampire is sitting in a tub filled with ice and giving the ceiling a thousand-yard stare, that’s a fairly good sign that things aren’t going too well for said vampire. That’s where Mick St. John (Alex O’Loughlin) finds himself at the beginning of this week’s episode, and if you’re confused, don’t worry. Like every self-respecting detective, Mick’s got a noir-inflected voiceover to explain it all, complete with flashbacks. Harrison Ford’s probably grateful his turn in BLADE RUNNER didn’t have the flashbacks; the voiceover sucked badly enough as it was.
Anyway, back to our episode already in progress. Thanks to Beth Turner (Sophia Myles), the only mortal who knows Mick’s a member of the Nosferatu Nation, Mick’s got a missing persons case. There’s an arms dealer on trial for murder, and the main witness is hiding out in a safe house, up until an assassin ventilates the place. The witness, the former nanny for the arms dealer, leaves town on the good foot, and Mick manages to find her and convinces her to return for the trial. The fact that she’s pregnant by the murder victim is just one more complication in the ongoing thrill ride that is Mick’s life this week.
Unfortunately, the assassin is a persistent fellow, and manages to track Mick and the witness thanks to a leak in the D.A.’s office. In the act of losing them, Mick and his charge end up stranded in the desert, which tends to have more sunlight than vampires like to have. Not a good situation for our hero, who is dire need of blood, and with his only source being his pregnant and fearful witness … it’s a piss-poor situation. Until Beth shows up. Will he feed off her to save the witness? If he does, will he be able to stop? What the hell do you think? It’s CBS, for heaven’s sake; if it were going to end in blood and tears, we’d be watching it on FX or HBO or something.
Tonight’s cold case turns from an attempted murder to a murder, when the victim of a 1989 shooting dies, after being in a coma since her attack. It turns out this wasn’t a very nice lady, which makes it much harder for the crack cold case squad to close the case. A grifter who steals, lies and cheats is a hard woman to feel sorry for. But Lilly (Kathryn Morris) and her team don’t have to like their victim to want to see justice done. Besides a trail of used up marks, the woman also had a male partner that may have decided he no longer wanted to share the spoils of all their hard work. Of course it’s never the first suspect who turns out to be the doer, so that may be a little too easy. However, that doesn’t mean he isn’t involved in some way.
That’s the beauty of this show; just when you think you know who did it, the case flips on its head and leads you – and the detectives – down another path. And sometimes that path leads them right back to where they started. So, the viewers get taken on a ride throughout the history of the victim and all the people in their lives. It’s kind of like a soap opera and cop show all in one, what can be better than that? All that doesn’t mean the show doesn’t tackle some very serious and relevant issues, which just makes it all the more intriquing to watch. Personally, I like the episodes that go further back in time than just two years, so tonight’s installment was a treat, especially the music. Come on, everybody loves music from the 80s … right? But really, it’s just a backdrop that evokes even more emotion and empathy for the unfortunate woman who became the flashpoint for tonight’s investigation.